Alpine apparel

A digression on debonair: how Taishō mountaineers set a sartorial standard that will never be excelled

My, they were snappy dressers in the Taishō era (1912-1926). Mass mountaineering may have come to Japan in that reign, but that doesn't mean they settled for plebby standards of attire. Au contraire.

Here (above) is the compleat Taishō alpinist. He sports a vaguely paramilitary tunic surmounted by an elegant white tennis hat. The alpenstock is de rigueur in steep snow gullies - as modelled (below) by Mrs Hisa Takeuchi, seen tackling Chōjirō-dani on Tsurugi in 1920.

Somewhat less ladylike - in her very practical bloomers - is Murai Yoneko (we've met her before), shown (right) atop Kita-Hodaka on her way over the fearsome Dai-Kiretto in 1923. Note that she's shod in straw sandals (waraji), the footwear of choice for exposed and delicate climbing. Some folk still wear them for sawa-nobori.

Nor is yama-ski (ski-mountaineering) any excuse for slovenly dress. The gentleman on the left is wearing a tie, as is proper in the presence of that formidable Mrs Murai. Yes, that's her again on the right, this time on skis. When it comes to pioneering all-round mountaineering for women, Murai-san wears the trousers.

Ski technique hasn't evolved much from the methods introduced by good old Lerch-san in the previous reign. The winter sportsman (left) is accoutred in khaki knickerbockers that must owe something to the Imperial Army. He looks a little tense, as well he might. To ski clutching a single Zdarsky-style pole is distinctly retro, even for Taishō 6 (1917).

Their fashion sense may have been a little "hai-kara" (upper crust), but snobby they weren't. Everyone was welcome as long as they looked the part. This student affects the yama-nadeshiko style. But don't underestimate her: with those all-terrain straw sandals on her feet, even the Dai-kiretto holds no terrors.

Children too can go out to play in the Japan Alps, if they dress like Christopher Robin. That school satchel on the boy's shoulders is a "ranzen". The word comes from the German, like the names for pretty much every other bit of mountain kit these days - eizen for crampons, zeiru for rope, pikkeru for ice-axe.

And so we come to these two louche-looking characters. You can tell at a glance that we're no longer in Taishō. No tunic, no puttees, and (of course) no tie; standards are slipping. This is how they're dressing down in early Shōwa. Have they no sense of style?

Reference

All photos copyright of Yama to Keikoku illustrated history of Japanese mountaineering (目で見る日本登山史 by 川崎吉光、山と渓谷社).

More about mountaineering in the Taishō era: Above the clouds